Stargate Millennium: Cloak
by StargateMillennium
Summary: a new Spin-off series: The Millennium Expedition was an experiment to unite the planet so that one day the stargate could become public. That expedition is now in jeopardy from a threat within.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A couple notes. First off, if you've read previous episodes, you should be familiar with Christopher Umar, a Nigerian Air Force officer. But, in my infinite stupidity, I did not do the proper research about their Air Force and gave him a rank of Colonel. There are no Colonels in the Nigerian Air Force. The only two equivalents are Wing Commander and Group Captain. Since shortening Group Captain to Captain makes him sound like he has a lower rank than he really does, his rank is Wing Commander and I've updated previous episodes to compensate. Colonel Umar is actually Commander Umar.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think. **

**-.-**

**Previously on Stargate Millennium**

After over a decade of using the stargate, the SGC found reference to a city built by all four races in the Alliance of Four Great Races. Calling upon the best and brightest from around the world, a new expedition was sent on a one way trip to this city. To their surprise, the city was also being explored by a civilization known as the Ror'char, a coalition of empires that was a superpower of the galaxy. However, interest were in conflict and the expedition and the Ror'char were forced to fight each other. A high ranking Ror'char officer known as Vos Dreas feigned defeat and death so he could be left alone with the expedition's leader, General William Mercer. Vos Dreas thought that this would be an easy assassination but was taken by surprise when his attack was stopped by an orange shield protecting the General. The last thing Vos Dreas saw before he was killed was Mercer's eyes glow.

**PROLOGUE**

It has been twenty years; it's been twenty years since the first team of humans was sent to Abydos. Thanks to the massive stone ring known as the stargate, Earth has made enormous leaps technology. They have a fleet of ships ready to defend their planet. They unlocked the secret of the lost city of Atlantis and the mysterious ninth chevron that led to Destiny. But, they had barely scratched the surface of the Alliance of Four Great Races. To this end, Earth has launched a new expedition to the fabled city Millennium, built by all four races. It's a new expedition in a new galaxy, and these are their adventures...

-.-

Of all the things in the universe, there is nothing as devious or calculating as the Goa'uld. Parasites from a lost swamp planet, these creatures seize control of their victims, gaining their body and memories. They rose through the ranks of the galaxy not as kings or emperors but as gods and forced everyone to worship them as such. Their arrogance eventually got the better of them when a race of fleshy creatures from a backwater planet, the Tau'ri, managed to unite everyone who stood against their regime. Their reign fell, but not before several of them managed to infiltrate a secret organization on Earth. And they are still there, waiting to make their next move…

-.-

Chen stared at the computer screen, watching as dots moved about the map of the complex. His laptop was setup before him, as usual, but a tangle of wires and cables connected it to the interface below it, an interface built by the Alliance of Four Great Races. He looked at the gate room behind him, other technicians busy with their duties of monitoring and maintaining the stargate. Steven Chen was on a spare computer terminal, scanning the maps of the Alliance capital of Millennium.

"Look, mate," Martin's voice said through the radio. "I'm telling you that there is no computer here. There's nothing but office spaces. Ya know, that's an interesting thought: Asgard office worker, or a Nox janitor. We really ought to look into that stuff."

"I'm telling you, that you must have gotten it wrong," Chen argued. "The database said there should be a central computer terminal on the third floor of that building."

"I don't know what to tell you. There's nothing but office cubicles up here."

Chen grumbled in frustration. Usually by this time he would proceed to hit something to make it work but the other engineers were not happy about him hitting thousand-year old alien technology.

"Uh...Charles, I said the _third_ floor," Chen said as he pulled up another screen on his laptop.

"I am on the third floor," the Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant pointed out, walking up to an ark, a map of Millennium being pulled up to greet him.

"According to the internal sensors, you're on the fourth."

"Chen, I'm looking at the ark map. Ground, one, two three; I'm on the third floor."

Chen raised an eye in confusion when he heard this before saying: "The first floor _is_ the ground floor."

"Since when?"

"Since always."

"When you're walking down the street, are you on the first floor or are you walking on the ground?"

"If you're walking down the street you're not on any floor 'cause you're outside!"

There was a quiet hiss as the doors to General William Mercer's office opened, the old man stepping out. He peeked to see what the commotion was, smiling in amusement when he realized it was just Chen and Martin bickering again. His gentle footsteps did not alert anyone to his presence as he walked down the steps, his arms folded behind his back as he listened the two friends continue to argue.

"Actually," General Mercer interrupted. "Different countries measure floors differently. Locations such as the United Kingdom, India, and Australia count floors by how far they are off the ground, the first floor being the first level off the ground, while places such as the United States, Russia, and China count how many levels are in the building, the first and the ground being one and the same."

Chen groaned in pure frustration when he heard this.

"You gotta be kidding me. This whole international thing is starting to become a major headache. Charles, go one floor down."

Mercer smiled slightly, glade he could help. Though, he did find it amusing that they were having so much trouble understanding each other because of the cultural differences.

"I'll hurry it up for you," Martin spoke through the radio. "Wouldn't want to make you late for your date with the Doc."

"First off, it's not a date; it's lunch." Chen could hear Martin snickering on the other side. "Second, I won't be late…'cause I still have another thirty minutes!"

Mercer turned to leave the control room, chuckling in amusement. Most of the people on the expedition never even met until now. Doctor Kara Osborn and Doctor Steven Chen seemed to be the only two who were close before Millennium Expedition.

"General," Donavan called out, jogging up the stairs with a stack of papers. Donavan was usually at the DHD in the control room, busy maintaining the stargate. But, he also served as the General's adjutant, keeping Mercer informed and up to date. "I have the report of our current food and water supply, Major Hailey from astrophysics is requesting materials for a number of projects. Also, Doctor Osborn wants to see you in the conference room."

"Did she say what she wanted?" Mercer asked, taking the stack of papers and flipping through them.

"No, sir."

Mercer raised a curious eyebrow at this but quickly strolled to the conference room where, sure enough, Doctor Kara Osborn was waiting for him. She didn't notice Mercer walk in though. In her hand was a digital pad where she scrolled through boxes of texts with a few diagrams of human and asgard bodies at the side.

"Light reading, Doctor?" Mercer asked friendlily. Osborn practically jumped out of her chair when she heard this, not expecting Mercer's voice to just cut in like that. The old man could not help but chuckle when he saw Osborn jump.

"Please don't do that," Kara sighed with a smile, laughing that he could scare her like that. Mercer slowly eased himself into a seat at the far end of the U-shaped conference desk.

"I hear you have something for me," he said, folding his hands in front of him. Osborn eagerly slid the pad to him, which now showed diagrams of human and asgard bodies.

"Took the liberty of scanning through the medical research members of the Alliance performed," she said. "This one caught my attention." Mercer did not speak as he slowly went through the data presented. "Now, as you know, the Asgard suffered a genetic disorder after thousands of years of cloning. According to this, during a time when the Asgard's genetic problems were still relatively minor, the Ancients and Nox began an experiment to help."

"Why would the Nox or the Ancients be the ones to help with this problem?" Mercer wondered aloud, sliding the pad back.

"Ancients, since they are human, bear a strong resemblance to the Asgard's ancestors. As for the Nox, their medical technology surpassed any of the other races in the Alliance. They had a treatment that could cause rapid regeneration. The hope was to give the individual the ability to…evolve. They could not cure the genetic defects technologically so they were hoping that if they evolve the Asgard body, it would cure itself. They were actually giving out experimental treatment before they had to abandon the city."

"It would be saddeningly ironic if we found the cure to the Asgard's genetic disorder several years after they've died out," Mercer commented.

"The Asgard and their allies had this research for who knows how long and they couldn't find a cure," Osborn pointed out. "I doubt we can but it would excel our medical research."

"What do you need then?" Mercer asked, convinced to help Osborn in any way necessary. He wasn't much interested in helping the Asgard renegades in Pegasus but he was more than eager to try to find this research for the Millennium Expedition.

"The research was performed only by government-level scientists who succeeded in making a working prototype that they wanted to test," Kara explained, ripping a piece of paper from her notebook and scribbling something down on it. "Their files not only talked about the research data but it gave a gate address." She slid the paper cross the table and right into Mercer's hand.

"Doctor…this is the gate address for the Millennium," Mercer pointed out. Kara smiled at that before saying, "I know. The research for the project is hidden somewhere in the Alliance capital city of Millennium."

-.-

It was the equivalent of midday on the floating space station and everyone was busy with their lives once again. Everyone was to go back to work as usual. One scientist was at the doors to his friend's quarters, knocking on it so they could go back to work together.

"Smith, c'mon, we're going to be late!" the scientist called, but there was no answer. "Smith!" he yelled again, waving his hand in front of the control panel, the door sliding open. He didn't like intruding on his friend but he was beginning to worry. Still, he didn't think it could be that bad. Smith probably overslept or something. But, as the doors pealed apart, his heart sank. The floor in the room was covered in books and papers. A lamp laid shattered on the ground. Two chairs had been flipped. And, on the other side of the room, was Smith, blood leaking from a gaping wound in his chest, a pool of blood spreading across the floor.

"SECURITY!" the scientist called, looking around frantically. "SOMEONE GET SECURITY!"

STARGATE

MILLENNIUM

Chen eagerly gobbled his General Tso's chicken, pausing for a moment to examine the taste. He had been living in America for easy access to the stargate and always had trouble finding any place that could recreate his favorite food. Now that he was in another galaxy on a one-way expedition, finding it was next to impossible. Lucky for him, Kara Osborn learned that the chefs in the mess hall decided to have a go at cooking it and came to have a lunch with him.

"So?" Osborn asked curiously from across his work bench where he was eating. Normally the bench would be a mess of papers and computer parts but Chen had cleared it to make way for two platters of food. "What do you think? Genuine enough?"

Chen didn't answer, still taking in the taste.

"Close enough," he finally said, setting down the fork. "No more pseudo-Chinese food. Hey, shouldn't you be out doing your treasure hunting thing?"

"You kicking me out of your room already?" she asked cheerfully.

"You visit me regularly anyways."

"Yeah, after being avoided for the first month by Mister Short-Tempered-and-Indecisive," Kara muttered.

"Excuse me?" Chen coughed. "You know, it's remarks like that which make people wonder how we know each other…and I'm not indecisive!"

"Since when has gossip ever bothered you?" Kara laughed, going back to her food. "You, MIT for engineering, me, Harvard for medical. Two foreign students getting their education at schools within minutes of each other. Just tell them the truth: we're old college friends and you suggested me when the SGC was looking for new recruits."

"I prefer my method: telling them to stick it. Besides, you could've easily gone to Oxford or some other renowned medical school in England or the UK."

"You know I never miss an opportunity or make an excuse to travel and studying abroad was the perfect excuse. You've seen my room; I have pictures of me next to just about every famous building and monument around the world. Why do you think I joined the Millennium Expedition?"

"You mean despite me insisting that you stay in Milky Way," Chen reminded her with a hint of frustration.

Osborn paused for a moment. She wanted to say it; she's been waiting to say it. Now, just as she was about to, it suddenly seemed like a bad idea.

"You going to spit it out or just leave me in suspense?" Chen asked impatiently. He could tell from her expression that she wanted to say something.

"I just feel like I should apologize," Osborn finally admitted.

"You mean for joining the Millennium Expedition even though I told you to stay in Milky Way?" Chen asked humorously. Osobrn could not help but scoff at this.

"Blimey, you can be annoying," Osborn laughed.

"I'm annoying," Chen repeated. "I'm annoying? I thought you said you were going to apologize, and hit me with another insult."

Osborn burst out laughing when she heard this, putting down her fork to make sure she doesn't cause an accident.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I was talking about our college years. We had a good run back then."

"Yes, we did," Chen agreed solemnly. Osborn paused again, finally getting to the part she dreaded.

"I'll admit, I can't imagine what it was like growing up in the heart of gang territory and I know you were hoping to be able to get a good job to get the money to relocate your family, no matter how much they disowned you. Witnessing their murders…it created a void in you. I can even see it now. I saw what would happen, I saw that it would end badly." Osborn could not tell what Chen was feeling. His face was a stiff as it always was. "So… I made the decision to end it…so that we would only have good memories of it."

Osborn stared into his eyes, still not sure what he was feeling. She had finally told him but was now regretting it.

"Well then," Chen sighed, picking up his glass of wine. Osborn smiled in relief and picked up her own glass. "To the good old days." There was a gentle clink as their glasses met before they took a sip.

A hard knocking echoed through Chen's quarters. Chen glared at the door, agitated by the interruption, before heading over and opening the door.

"Terra?" Chen coughed in surprise when he saw who knocked. She stood at attention in her purple T-shirt and sweat pants, a fine layer of brown dust on her clothes. "You smell like saw dust."

"I was doing wood work before I was called."

"Called? What do you mean?" He could see the seriousness in her face. Normally, Major Terra Nova was relaxed when she was off duty. Now, it looked like she was preparing for a firefight.

"You know Jared Smith?" she asked.

"You mean the techie working on the trams? Yeah, what about him?"

"We just found him dead in his quarters," Nova explained. "We think he was murdered." Chen felt his jaw drop when he heard this. Kara Osborn stood up in shock. They knew the dangers of exploring the universe but they expected dangers to come from outside, aliens or animals or technology. They just found out there was a danger from within.

"How?" Chen asked darkly.

"We don't know. Mercer's ordered Wolf Pack to investigate."

"Us?!" Chen repeated in shock. "Why Wolf Pack?"

"You can ask Mercer," Nova explained, turning to leave. Chen and Osborn quickly ran to catch up. "He wants us to pick up Martin and Corin and meet him in front of Smith's quarters." Chen didn't need to say another word to agree.

-.-

Mercer maintained his serious expression as he looked at the room from the door, three guards waiting outside. His eyes scanned every inch, recording it all in his memory. A chair closest to the door was on its side, lying atop a mess of books and papers that got knocked off the table and shelves around the room. At the far end was another chair, completely knocked on its back. And, behind that chair, was the body of Doctor Smith, his body crumpled at the base of a bookshelf.

"General," Nova greeted as she walked up with the rest of her team. Martin peeked into the room, taking in the scene. Almost immediately, his instincts as a tracker kicked in as he tried to imagine what happened that would make the room what it is now. It was obvious there was a fight but he had to go into the room before he could figure out any more.

"What happened here?" Nova asked. There was already a small crowd gathering beyond the perimeter that had been set up. She wanted to get this started and finished as soon as possible.

"It is as you see here," Mercer said darkly, looking at Wolf Pack. He was moderately surprised to see Doctor Osborn with them but it wasn't really worth commenting on. "The Dusk Riders are currently out on a mission so I am putting you in charge of the investigation." Nova could see the hate in Mercer's eyes as he glared at the untouched body. "We have a traitor in our midst. I want him found."

Nova gave her team a wave telling them to walk into the room to check things out.

"We should get a kino something to record everything before we start moving stuff," Martin suggested. He and Corin instinctively looked at Chen, expecting him to retrieve the kino.

"I'll get it," Steven groaned. He knew where the kino dispenser was; he just didn't want to walk all the way there.

"Doctor Osborn," Nova called out as Chen angrily stumbled out of the room. "You think you can help us examine the body?"

Kara opened her mouth to speak but Mercer was able to answer, "I'm afraid she can't. I've assigned her to an on-station mission. Speaking of which; Doctor Osborn, I managed to find three volunteers who will accompany you for your search. I was going to find you but it appears that you came my way." Osborn realized that Mercer was gesturing toward the guards. In fact, they weren't guards at all; they were her escorts for the search.

"Major," Mercer added, turning toward Nova. "You have the full resources of this expedition at your disposal. Do what you need; I want the killer found." Mercer turned and left the group to their business.

Kara looked at the three men that would escort her. They were scientists, not soldiers.

"Doctor Osborn," one of them said, stepping forward. He may not be military but it looked like he should be. The man was enormous, only a little less than seven feet tall with arms so thick it looked like thighs were growing from his shoulders. "Devin Casanova."

"From the anthropology department?" Osborn asked. "I remember you from the gym."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the short one with the black spikey hair said. "Can we cut the chit chat and get straight to looking for whatever this thing is? I'm Gary Porter by the way. The staring guy's Bryan Greer." Porter was referring to the third man, who seemed stabbed on the room, staring and Nova and Martin.

"Uh…you ok?" Osborn asked when it obvious that Greer was fixated on the two military personnel in the room.

"Just thinking," Greer said with a slight chuckle. "It just think it's ironic: murderers investigating a murder."

Just that comment alone immediately caught Nova and Martin's attention.

"Excuse me?" Martin coughed. He was so caught off guard by the phrase that he suspected he heard wrong or misinterpreted the comment. Corin peeked out from the corner of the room he was in. He didn't know what to say or how to react.

"Smith gets murdered and a team with two murderers are sent to look into it," Greer remarked with a smirk. "This whole 'I'm doing it to defend my country' thing is nothing but a sick joke. Admit it, you do it because you like putting bullets in people."

"Doctor Greer," Osborn warned darkly, not liking where this was going.

"You know, I don't know who's worse," Greer hissed with a smug grin. "The happy killer from down under." Martin glared at Greer in anger. "Or the murderess from Earth's grease shack."

Charles Martin finally had enough, standing up from his work and rapidly rushing toward Greer.

"Martin," Nova called out, rushing in front of him and putting a firm hand on his shoulder. "Don't take your anger out on the ignorant; he doesn't know anything."

"Oh, I know a lot more than you," Greer snapped with a laugh. "I was studying to be a biologist while you were in your fast food restaurants filling your ugly bellies with burgers and hotdogs and studying to be the insidious, self-righteous, fallacious, baby-killers you really are."

"GREER!" Osborn yelled angrily. She looked at him then at Wolf Pack, not sure what to say. "I think we should go." She stiffly led the group away. About an hour of walking, or two hours, or more like two minutes, Osborn finally turned around and faced Geer.

"What was that?" she asked with as much composure as possible.

"What?" he asked, cocking his head. "Facts make soldiers cringe."

"I think you doing a lot more than stating your opinion."

"You're right. I was stating FACTS. And, if we manage to contact Earth, they'll realize that having the stargate in the hands of a group whose job is to murder people is a bad idea."

Greer then shoved past Osborn for the ark ahead, ready to begin searching for the research.

-.-

Chen carefully steered the kino into the room, where the rest of the team was still working.

"What'd I miss" he asked as he stepped in. He could feel the frustrations still lingering in the air.

"You don't want to know," Nova warned. She knew Martin was still fuming over the confrontation earlier and Corin was just in his corner confused. If she could make her team move on from this she will.

"Look who I found," Chen said as he sent the kino to examine the body in the room. As he said this, Doctor Markus Kauffman cheerfully strolled in.

"_Guten tag_, everyone," he greeted warmly in a strong German accent with his case of equipment. "I do wish I could say the same for Doctor Smith over here."

"Hold on," Chen said as he floated the kino over the body and scanned the whole thing with the floating camera ball. "Ok, go ahead."

"With Doctor Osborn busy I thought I could help, even once worked as a medical examiner," Kauffman said as he knelt by the body, the kino that had just finished recording footage floating away. The Doctor pushed up his large round glasses before going to work. "Haven't had to autopsy anything in a very long time. I believe the last time was a suicide. The poor man decided to end it by laying on a set of railroad tracks. As you can imagine, the scene was quite gruesome. I think my only consolation was that it was quick and painless."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Chen mumbled. "Kara said you had a lot of stories."

"Well, Doctor Smith has his own story to tell," Kauffman mumbled. "There are only slash and stab wounds, very deep ones at that. Major arteries severed…I suspect he bled to death after being cut open."

"Any idea what did this?" Nova asked, kneeling beside Kauffman.

"A very long bladed weapon. As silly as it sounds, I'd say this man was killed with some kind of sword."

"A sword?" Corin repeated, coming out of the bed room. "Oscillator blade?"

Kauffman shook his head. He knew Corin was talking about the buzz sword, a sword that spins the molecules in the edge of the blade like a chainsaw at several million RPM.

"No, the buzz sword creates a high amount of friction and heat that would instantly cauterize the wound. "These wounds are open, letting the poor man bleed to death. It was a slow and excruciatingly painful end."

"It also begs another question," Martin said as he knelt down by the scattered bullet shells on the floor. "Why a sword? Why not a gun? And, where did he get the sword?"

"You sure it wasn't from a knife?" Nova asked Kauffman. Nova remembered training with knives and sticks, and even with a bayonet, but never with swords. Just thinking about it, it seemed like something out of a fantasy movie.

"The slash wounds are too deep and the stab wounds are too narrow for anything that would be qualified as a knife. Even in the modern world, there are countries that equip their soldiers with swords for close quarters combat. This expedition was composed of several of those countries. After being trained with it for so long, it would become a weapon of choice for close quarters combat. Maybe one of their soldiers…"

"That's just speculation," Corin pointed out. "And it still doesn't answer why he would use that and not a gun

Martin stared at the body suspiciously. Something about it had been bothering him the moment he looked at it.

"Martin, what do you see?" Nova asked.

"What?" Martin stuttered, caught off guard by the question.

"You're a skilled tracker. Track the killer."

Martin groaned in agitation at this: "You do a little hunting and a little tracking in your spare time and suddenly everyone thinks you're Sherlock Holmes!"

"As a tracker, you examine the environment and draw conclusions. Do the same here."

Martin walked into the center of the bullet shells that littered the ground, still shaking his head in disbelief. He made a gun finger and pointed at the bullet holes in the wall and above the overturned chair before drawing his conclusion: "He was talking to someone who sat in that chair. Something happened and he started…spraying…everywhere." Martin moved his hand back and forth, measuring the angle between the bullet holes spaced furthest apart. Martin began to walk backwards, trying to reenact what happened, nearly tripping when he backed up into the overturned chair in front of the body.

"_Achtung_, you're going to step on the body!" Kauffman cried out as Martin put a foot behind himself for support. The Lieutenant looked down beside him and leaned over.

"Oh, that's where his gun went," he said, eyeing the weapon Smith used under a book. Charles straightened himself back up and looked around. "That's not right," he mumbled as he looked back at the body. "Look at the way his body is positioned. It looks like he fell!"

"From where, the ceiling?" Chen coughed sarcastically, looking up. Corin walked over to the body in interest. Looking at the remains of a person just made him feel empty. He was still not used to the death that he was now surrounded by. People hear about murders and deaths and react with sadness. But to seeing someone that he knew dead in front of him, all those emotions of shock and horror he felt when he heard about someone's death suddenly seemed woefully insufficient.

"I don't know!" Martin argued. "From the way his legs are bent, all I can tell you is that he fell at least three feet. With how the chair is oriented, I'd say he was chucked against this bookshelf right here."

"The bruising on the back of his head and damage on the bookshelf behind him would also support the theory," Kauffman said. "He likely hit his head against the bookshelf when he was thrown and his body fell to his current position."

"Ok, let's say he did fall," Corin thought aloud. "How did that happen?"

"Well, something would have to lift him off the ground and throw him," Nova said. "Maybe a really strong person."

"The killer had already cut the poor man open," Kauffman said. "Physically throwing him would result in more sporadic blood splatter. And it would be redundant if he was armed with a blade."

"Ion rifle?" Martin suggested. "Even on intermediate yield, it can throw a body."

"No blast marks," Corin pointed out. "The ion rifle would blow chunks out of the body. And, why didn't he just use the ion rifle to begin with? Why'd he first cut and stab the guy?" Corin looked around the room. He couldn't think of anything in his galaxy that could do what they were thinking. "Is there anything you guys encountered that could throw a guy across a room without actually touching him?"

Nova exchanged worried glances with Martin and Chen.

"That's not bloody possible," Martin said, not sure if he was trying harder to convince Nova or himself.

"It's the only possibility," Chen argued, not liking the idea any more than Martin did. "They're sadistic enough." Corin looked at the two, realizing they knew something he didn't.

"What is it?" Corin asked. Nova looked at her friend with the grim answer: "A Goa'uld hand device." Corin felt his blood run cold. Mercer had finally given him access to the files about the Goa'uld and he knew how dangerous they were.

"But that would mean…" he stuttered.

"There's a Goa'uld on Millennium."

-.-

The city tram whooshed down its tracks. After thousands of years of advancing, all four races were able to make their subways and trains next to silent. The line of cars made nothing but humming. Kara Osborn was with her crew: Greer, the short and eager Porter, and the giant Casanova.

"Hey, Osborn," Porter called out. "What exactly are we looking for?" Osborn looked up from her data pad.

"Not really sure," Kara said as she went back to reading. "According to the reports, the research is primarily Asgard but was assisted by the Ancients. It may provide breakthroughs in medical research. The notes say that it's in a city arm. We know which arm, we just don't know where." She glanced up when a small orange bulb in the ceiling began blinking.

"We're here," Casanova grunted, standing up. Osborn slung her backpack over her back.

"Let's get this done, then," Greer remarked with a smile, grabbing his own bag. Kara just glanced at Greer, not sure she wanted him on her team after his earlier debacle. Still, she had to focus on her mission. The sooner she finishes it the sooner she can part ways with him.

The moment the doors slid open, Osborn jumped off the tram with the three men behind her. Normally, the arms would only be fed minimal power but this one had been fully charged so Osborn could make her search. The white marble floor and walls seemed to glow from the reflecting light. The marble underground was beautiful but the outside was breathtaking.

The expedition was restricted to the central city, between all four arms. When they looked out across the city they looked down on a metropolis built on the inside of the arm. Now that they were on a branch of the Millennium, the view had completely changed. They had a clear line of sight with central city. Osborn grabbed a set of binoculars and looked the city in the distance. It wasn't much different than looking down on a city from an airplane in a sky. She could even see people standing on the balconies of several buildings, looking at them from above. She looked up and saw another arm of the city directly above her like a ceiling, hundreds of towers hanging off the road like stalactites. She could only imagine Asgard or Ancient children perhaps playing a game where one would stand on one arm and one on the other and they could both grab binoculars, look up, and stare at each other. It was incredible to see a city in every direction, even above.

"There's a hospital a few blocks down," Osborn said, putting her binoculars away. "That's a good place to start."

"Shouldn't we be looking for some high-tech research center or something?" Porter asked.

"When an experimental treatment's been tested a certain number of times, hospitals give them to volunteers along with placebos to test its effectiveness."

"So, we're seeing if the grey men started giving out their medicine," Greer commented. "We find the hospital and check their records."

"Sounds about right," Osborn said. "Let's go." With a few slides and taps on the data pad, a map of the arm was pulled up and she eagerly began walking down the road. It took about a second before she realized the other three weren't following.

"What you waiting for?" she asked.

"Are we just going to walk?" Porter asked, imagining how far the hospital was.

"It's not like there's a Nox cab we can call."

"You seem very excited," Greer commented. Casanova simply cocked his head at that comment with a slight grumble.

"Every time we go looking for something left behind by the Ancients or the Asgard we're always looking for some giant weapon," Osborn said, eagerly marching on ahead. "I always had to wonder: why're we always finding their stuff made to destroy the galaxy? Why don't we ever find an Ancient restaurant or a Furling daycare? It's be a nice change."

"Well, there're both in Millennium," Porter pointed out, jogging to catch up.

"Exactly!" Osborn chirped. "And when I get the chance, I'm going to see them all!"

-.-

"What you're suggesting is disturbing," Mercer commented grimly from behind his desk. Major Nova decided to debrief the General on her team's findings.

"It makes sense," Nova explained. "The Goa'uld are sadistic; they have no problem about overkill of leaving someone to die. A Goa'uld hand device is the only thing that can hurtle a body across the room without actually leaving a mark. Chen's already made a computer model and only a hand device can leave the body where it was found. But, this still leaves questions over why and how a Goa'uld infiltrated the expedition."

"Has Doctor Kauffman uncovered anything else?" Mercer asked calmly.

"He's still autopsying the body but I don't know how much he'll find that's going to actually be pertinent. I recommend that we do blood tests, see if we can find naquadah in anyone's blood starting with myself and my team."

"Get it done fast and return to investigating," Mercer ordered, grabbing a stack of papers. "Come in," he called when he heard knocking at the door. Nova briefly glanced behind her in time to see Captain Ronaldson step in.

"Ready to turn in my report, sir," the captain said nervously, glancing at Nova.

"It's all right, Captain. Major, Wolf Pack is also not above suspicion for this. You are the primary team in charge of the investigation because of your successful record but I've assigned Captain Ronaldson and the Storm Cutters to investigate as well."

"You mean investigate my team?" Nova asked. She couldn't exactly blame Mercer for suspecting her team along with the rest of the expedition but she still didn't like her and her people were being investigated.

"Major Nova," a voice crackled over the radio attached to her blue sweatpants. She hadn't really bothered changing so she was still in her purple shirt and sweatpants. "This is Doctor Kauffman, can you meet me in the infirmary."

"On my way."

-.-

The walk to the infirmary was not long; the place was directly under the gate room. The blue walls turned a light shade of pink as she went into the medical wing. Doctors and nurses still went about their business. But, Nova's destination was near the back, a little place that people have begun to call 'the freezer'. It was the place that kept everything in stasis pods. The biology department has been using it to bring in and study alien animals. But, Kauffman had chosen to use it as a place to store the body in the meantime. She knew the doctor would be there, but she was somewhat surprised to find the rest of her team waiting for her.

"Doctor," Nova called out as she entered the room. Kauffman abruptly stood up, taking the ear pieces out.

"Major," Kauffman greeted warmly. "I'm sorry to call you on such short notice but these findings are important." The rest of Wolf Pack turned their attention to Kauffman, wanting to know what his findings were.

"I'm listening," Nova said, walking swiftly to the body that laid covered under a tarp. She put her hand on the edge of the table. She didn't know Smith but she felt like she should at least see him off to whatever awaited him after death.

"Been using Alliance medical technology to do my autopsy," Doctor Kauffman explained. "It's made my work very efficient."

"What'd you find?"

Doctor Kauffman cleared his throat before going to explain his findings.

"There is bruising on the back of the head and on several sections of the spine consistent with the shape of the bookshelf behind him. It certainly supports the theory he was thrown against it before being left to bleed. Though, the organ trauma certainly did not help. But, it is not his cause of death that has me so concerned."

The Doctor swiftly stroke to a computer monitor on the wall and turned it on. Several images began to slide across the screen until one that held what looked like an x-ray stopped at the front. The team all leaned forward, almost immediately seeing what had caught Kauffman's attention.

"Is that...a snake?" Corin stuttered, looking at a long skeleton attached to the spine near the base of the skull.

"Space snakes," Chen sighed. "I think we're all thinking the same thing."

"I've read every SGC and Atlantis report and there is only one thing that's like this," Corin added.

"Now we also know why it happened," Martin remarked. "At least…sort of."

Nova nodded, understanding what Martin was saying.

"The Goa'uld killed Smith because he was also a Goa'uld."


	2. Chapter 2

**I apologize for the delay, I had midterms and finals to finish. I actually had to pause in the middle of this chapter and pick up where I left off. So, please enjoy, review, and tell me what you think.**

-.-

Jennifer Hailey continued working at her laptop, an extended oscillator sword mounted on the rack on the table behind her, still wearing her black mission gear. With a flick of a switch, the sensors around the sword turned on, scanning the weapon down to the subatomic particle. She looked at the reading on her screen, watching the computer model recreate what was happening on the table. She was so focused on her computer that she jumped out of her chair in shock as a case was slammed down on the table right beside her.

"Jeez, Chen," she managed to say through gritted teeth. "Did you really have to do that?" Chen held back a quiet chuckle as he slid out a laptop out of the case.

"Need your help with a little something," he explained as he proceeded to turn the laptop on. "I thought the Dusk Riders were on mission."

"We just got back a few minutes ago. I wanted to get back to studying to oscillator swords. It's incredible; we've always assumed that the molecules in the blade cuts through matter like a chainsaw through wood. But, according to the sensors, the blade is actually warping space-time around it, splitting whatever is occupying it. This seems to be a byproduct of the rapid rotations of the blade's subatomic particles. This is why it cuts through objects so easily. But this also gives it the ability to penetrate any form of shielding as well"

Chen gave Hailey an impatient glare. Samantha Carter was infamous for her long and technical explanations. Jennifer Hailey was her first and often considered her favorite pupil. Carter has taught and worked with many SGC scientists but Hailey was handpicked by her. Jennifer obviously picked up Carter's infamous habit of rambling.

"That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation," he grumbled, going back to the laptop. "You going to help me or you going to continue using pointlessly technical terms?"

Hailey raised a curious eyebrow, minimizing the windows that displayed the data before asking, "What do you need?"

"Did you know Doctor Jared Smith?"

"The technician working on the trams? Yeah."

"He's dead…murdered."

Hailey looked up in shock. The Millennium Expedition was just a small town, everybody knew each other. Suddenly hearing about someone dying in the city, it felt like hearing about the death of a neighbor who lived down the street that you never got to know. The only other thing that disturbed her was that it meant his killer was in the city.

"What happened?" she stuttered.

"He was killed by a hand device but that's not all. We've discovered a Goa'uld symbiote attached to his spine."

"So Smith was a Goa'uld killed by a Goa'uld?" Hailey repeated, still trying to piece it all together.

"Hailey, I need to make this quick," Chen interrupted. "Kauffman's determined the time of death and the Dusk Riders were on mission so I need you to help me hack his laptop!"

"Ok," she managed to say, trading places with Chen. "Let me see what I can do." Her fingers began flying over the keyboard. Computer code began to scroll past the screen but she was still distracted. The System Lords in the Milky Way had been defeated and the Goa'uld had been crippled. They were supposed to be gone. Now, the threat suddenly seemed very real.

"You ok?" Chen asked, noticing how disturbed Hailey seemed.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to shrug off the worry. "Why would a Goa'uld kill Smith anyways? Wouldn't they know he was a one of them?"

"The Goa'uld are power hungry," Chen pointed out, reading the computer code over Hailey's shoulder. "Whoever our killer is, he's probably taking out the competition."

-.-

"Thank you, Donavan," Mercer said, taking another stack of folders from his helper. Major Nova patiently waited as Donavan nodded and left the General's office. Mercer quickly flipped through the pages as if he was looking for something.

"General?" Nova asked, growing slightly impatient. Mercer, finally finding the page he wanted, pulled it out of the folder and tucked it under his arm.

"Follow me," he said, slowly standing up and walking behind his chair. Nova gave him a confused look, since it was nothing but a wall. Mercer could feel her confused stare but he didn't care. He slid open a small panel on the wall and pressed the button behind the panel. There was a hum as the wall behind the chair opened like a door, revealing an entire room on the other side. Nova's eyes widened in shock. The General's office was on the side of the tower, the door should lead outside. Instead, it looked like the front door to a mansion. A brilliant chandelier hovered in the air, floating in the air instead of dangling by a chain. She could see massive murals in several side rooms. At first she thought it was just a painting, but then she saw the image change before her eyes.

"Welcome to the governor's mansion," Mercer greeted. "At least, this would be the governor's mansion back when the Alliance occupied this city." Nova was only half listening to Mercer; she was busy gawking at her surroundings. It was like she had walked into a castle from a fairy tale. "The door behind the office chair is an ark that leads to this place. Only two other scientists know about it and they speculate that the complex exists in a pocket dimension or something of the sort."

"General," Nova interrupted. "Why am I here?"

Mercer did not immediately answer. He just led her to one of the adjacent rooms where they sat down in front of the heater with a holographic fireplace. He spread the papers across the table in front of them as he began to explain.

"After the stargate was reopened and its purpose rediscovered, there were some…disagreements over its handling. There were those who believed that the military would use the stargate for conquest, regardless of what country it is set in. They blamed us for the war against the Goa'uld."

"The Goa'uld would've invaded and tried to enslave us," Nova argued.

"They said that was merely exaggerated propaganda to garner support that the stargate remain in the hands of the SGC," Mercer explained. "The group started out peaceful, trying to sway political leaders to agree with them, but eventually a branch splintered off to perform their own activities that would forcefully ensure their goals. The original organization tried to coerce this splinter faction to stop what they were doing and rejoin. The splinter group branded them as traitors to the cause and…wiped them out. The splinter group is all that remains."

"Do these people even have a name?" Nova asked bluntly. She could not help but think about a planet they had once visited: Elora. It had run its stargate program in secret for a long time, developing advanced technology to defend the planet. When they finally chose reveal the existence of the gate, violence almost instantly broke out because of different views involving the stargate. In fact, the planet nearly destroyed itself as a result. Nova could not help but draw parallels between what happened on Elora and what was happening here.

"We never had a name for them. They weren't even an organization; just a group of people who wanted the stargate out of military hands. However, the splinter group have often referred to themselves as the Stargate Council, often just called the Council for short. The Goa'uld, the wraith, the Ori, the Lucian Alliance, they blamed us for the conflicts with all of them, claimed we provoked them into attacking."

"How come I've never heard of them before?"

"Their voice never carried much influence. They never got far politically and merely forming an operation like the Trust wouldn't have achieved their goals. It was only lately they made their voices heard." Mercer reached into the file and slid several pages to Nova. She glanced at them and almost instantly recognized reports on the deaths of several SGC personnel. "All murdered; the Council threatened to continue killing SGC personnel unless the SGC surrendered the stargate to them and admitted to starting the wars against the Goa'uld and the wraith for resources and conquest. Before the start of the Millennium Expedition, there was chatter that the Council intended on infiltrating the expedition."

"So much for peace," Nova muttered, pausing for a moment, analyzing what she was told. She was so busy focusing on the threats she knew of. The Ror'char, the Harvesters, and now this Council; they seemed to be facing a nonstop onslaught of new enemies. But, while the Ror'char and the Harvesters were relatively indifferent to the expedition, the Council was dedicated for the sole purpose of fighting them. "But what does this have anything to do with our murder investigation?" Nova asked.

"You concluded that Smith's killer was a Goa'uld due to the use of a hand device, but Goa'uld are not the only ones capable of using them," Mercer pointed out. "There was evidence that they have been using injections to get naquadah into their bloodstream so they can use Goa'uld technology."

Nova gave the General a suspicious look. The concept was plausible but unlikely yet Mercer seemed very confident of it. Another question was why he kept it a secret all this time.

"Do you know something I don't?" she asked. She looked at the General's face, trying to find out what he was thinking, but his face was eerily stone cold. Normally, she could read a person from his expression, but Mercer's face was stiff and rigid.

"Major, all you need to know is that there are very powerful factions involved," Mercer warned darkly. "You are going to have to take my word when I say the less you know, the better. This is for your sake."

"What about the Goa'uld?" Nova asked. To her, the risk of being infiltrated by them seemed a lot bigger than any human organization. Mercer should've felt the same way, yet he was ordering her to redirect her attention. "If Smith was one, there's no telling how many others there are."

"Worry about the Goa'uld later. For now, I am ordering you to focus on the Council."

-.-

Kara Osborn stared out across the city of Millennium from on its hospitals on the arms of the city. She loved being able to see the city from a different angle. She stared at the ornate hospital bed. It looked as if it was made of stone but the moment she pushed down on it, the surface conformed to her hand as if it was memory foam. She stared at the abandoned hospital equipment left lying about, dust settling on every exposed surface. She tried to imagine medical practices in the future. The experimental and prototype machines and medicines turned into a regular item? The diseases and injuries that were once fatal turned into a mere inconvenience? She wanted to dig through all the information and see what she could make use of.

"We're on the right track," Osborn announced, looking at an empty container. "These containers held retroviruses waiting to be transcribed with the appropriate DNA."

"So is the machine in the hospital?" Porter asked loudly as he peeked into another empty room. The giant Casanova silently walked over, curious what Osborn had to say. Whenever Osborn had to go off-world, she was usually had armed guards escorting her. It was almost strange to be exploring without any of them being armed.

"Well, if the medical equipment was still experimental, they would have to document every use of it," Osborn through aloud, pacing back and forth with the container in her hand. "We should check the computer logs. By the way, where's Greer?" Her question was promptly answered as Greer appeared from around the door.

"Just enjoying the scenery," he said innocently. Osborn actually could believe this. She knew that the Ancients and Asgard inspired many religious icons on Earth; she could not help but wonder if the Millennium inspired the concept of heaven. If she were to imagine a technologically advanced heaven, this would fit the description perfectly, from the glowing clouds to the regal city.

"We're going to have to go through the computers," Osborn explained. "See if they used any new pieces of equipment of machinery."

"Got it!" Greer said with a smile, his right hand instinctively reaching into his pocket, feeling the cold hard data crystal concealed within.

-.-

Corin looked at the data pad in his hand, scrolling down the list. The sound of the mess hall echoed around him. A civilian was supposed to feel safe in his own home, not be suspicious of everyone around him. Now, anyone, even the person he accidentally bumps into in the hall, could be an enemy. Millennium may be a massive city but the expedition was a small town. Everybody knew everybody. The trust and security they once had was gone.

"This is the last place," Corin announced to Martin as the Lieutenant looked over the balcony, observing the people eating dinner. "Ok, this is a waste of time. What're we doing here?!"

"Checking every location Smith regularly goes to," Martin recited. "It's the Major's orders."

"I don't see the point," Corin exclaimed, looking around.

"You never watch cop shows? You travel the victim's route right before he died, see who he ran into that would want to kill him. We really gotta work on Earth-anizing you."

"Well, considering we're looking for a person with a snake in the head, why didn't we grab an Alliance scanner?" Corin asked. To him, it was common sense. If they had a scanner made by the Alliance of Four Great Races, they could scan each person they talked to and determine if he was a Goa'uld.

"If they were Goa'uld, they'd notice and avoid us," Martin pointed out loudly; but Corin could see Martin's eyes flicking toward his right pocket. It took Nevec a moment but he realized what Charles Martin was trying to signal. "You know, as much as I miss Milky Way, I was _really_ hoping that we never see another Goa'uld."

"The General let me read the mission reports about them," Corin said. "You guys never finished getting rid of the ones on Earth, did you?"

"No we didn't," Martin answered, shaking his head. Ba'al had become the leader of the Goa'uld infested Trust. The death of the last bloody Goa'uld System Lord severely weakened their organization but we never finished them off."

"What do we do now, then?" Corin asked, going over everything they could possibly cover.

"Martin, come in," a voice suddenly crackled through the radio. Corin and Charles Martin exchanged curious glances at Nova's suddenly call. "Chen, Martin, do you read?"

"I'm here, Terra," Chen immediately answered. "The laptop's a dead end; the thing had a defense mechanism which made it fried itself the moment Hailey hacked into it."

"Wouldn't have happened if you told me you knew about it!" Hailey's voice protested in the background.

"Corin and I are also here, Major," Martin said calmly, still looking around the room.

"Just got new intel from General Mercer. Our killer is not Goa'uld. We're looking for a human that is taking injections of naquadah in order to use Goa'uld technology."

"Don't you just love it when the guy in charge keeps secrets from you?" Chen muttered sarcastically.

"Sorry, Chen, but I'm going to have to do the same thing. According to General Mercer, they might target us for knowing."

"I'm sure he did," Chen grumbled. He knew there were times when a person needed to keep secrets but he felt that this was not the case; he needed to be able to trust the people he was working for. Nova sympathized with Chen, she remembered how much she hated the higher-ups keeping secrets from her. They would give her orders and expect her complete obedience with not a single explanation of why. After rising in the ranks, she's had to make decisions to keep secrets of her own.

"Wait a minute," Corin interrupted. "They?

"Look, Corin, I'm can't let you in on this until I know more, especially if the General's right," Nova explained. "I have the files on some sort of Stargate Council. Our killer might be in here but I rather tell you in person. Chen, I know you capable of watching your own back. Martin, watch Corin's. I'm going to do some reading and get back to you tomorrow." There was a click as Nova set her radio down, letting Chen grumble about the secrecy. Martin exchanged worried glances with Corin. Whatever would make Nova scared made them scared.

-.-

Whenever Nova needed time alone to think, she headed to a nice empty room in the middle of the city. It was probably a warehouse that the Alliance used to store things when they were in control of the city. Now, it was where she could do woodwork in private. Different exploration teams were bringing back rocks and wood. In her spare time, Nova could go back to do craft things in private. The smell of saw dust hung in the air. It was as if the whole room just naturally smelled like saw dust. The stack of folders on a nearby desk were already picking up the smell. Another folder lay open, a pair of wood scraps holding it open. The sound of sawing finally subsided as Nova set her hacksaw down and walked over to the paper, the piece of wood she had just cut in her hand. Her eyes scanned the paper in front of her.

Nova was still suspicious of Mercer's insistence of redirecting their investigation but she could question him about that later. He knew more than he was telling but if she wanted to dig deeper, she couldn't let the General find out. For now, she had to focus on the folders in front of her.

There was a crack as she opened a bottle of water that she had left on her desk this morning. She quietly walked to the cabinet in the back and took out three bags of ice tea mix, shaking them to make sure all the saw dust was off. She went back over to her bottle of water and, one by one, ripped an opening in the bags and poured them into her water bottle. After a long stressful day, a strong bottle of ice tea helps her think. She capped the bottle and shook it up, looking at the color before deciding it wasn't strong enough. She grabbed another two bags and poured them into the bottle. It was up to five bags of ice tea; the color was right; the mix should be strong enough. She picked up the bottle and took a sip…and froze.

Nova was surrounded by metal equipment; creating plenty of reflective surfaces. Her hacksaw was lying right in front of her, a distorted reflection shown on its blade, revealing the doorway and the two men sneaking in. Normally, she wouldn't have thought much of it, maybe a random member of the expedition getting lost and walking in and she didn't see any reason to think otherwise now. She turned to face the newcomers and her blood chilled. They were definitely not lost. The average expedition member didn't wear gray leather jackets and gloves or wear balaclavas to cover their faces.

Nova's skin tingled as she felt the adrenaline shoot through her body, her vision narrowing as she got ready for a fight. One of the men had his hand raised as if he was asking for a handshake, but she could see the strange ring on his finger. In a single motion, Nova stepped to the side and kicked the metal table over. Just in time. A red bolt of energy streaked through the air and hit the metal table as it toppled over, the stack of folders sliding across the ground. Nova instantly knew what was happening. These two men were here to kill her and destroy the files she was reading.

Nova dove over the table, grabbing the hacksaw off the floor and flung it at the two men. It wasn't very dangerous compared to a bullet but a flying piece of metal still hurts. The one in front raised his arms in surprise as the saw harmlessly bounced off him. He lowered his arms just in time to see Nova's fist heading right for his face. The other man tried to take aim at her with his ring but his hand was almost immediately slapped away, the red bolt of energy flying toward the wall. There was no thought in Terra's mind, her every move based on instinct as she continued to land punch after punch after punch, shoving away their weapon to avoid getting shot. Most people think that a gun or energy weapon is better than basic unarmed combat. Perhaps at a distance but up close, Nova had already left the two battered and bruised. But, she could not keep it up forever. All it'd take was one mistake, and she made it. In a last ditch attempt to save herself, Nova grabbed the arm of one of her attackers and used it like a crowbar, flipping him between her and the ring aimed at her. At the last moment, a red bolt of energy flew from the attacker's ring, hitting his partner in the chest and erupting out of the other side in a shower of ash and sparks. Shocked by what just happened, the shooter looked up, horrified that he just shot his partner. Nova took advantage of his surprise and took off down the hall. It didn't take long for the shooter to regain his senses and take off after her. But, he barely made it into the hall the phrase "STOP RIGHT THERE!" echoed through the hall. He looked up to see Commander Umar standing in front of him. The shooter recognized the alien stun weapon known as a trazer aimed at him.

There was no surrendering. The last attacker raised his hand to fire at the Nigerian soldier but never got the chance. Christopher Umar fired a burst at the attacker, the pellets hitting and bursting, the fluids inside immediately undergoing a chemical reaction that unleashed a violent jolt of electricity. Steam slowly rose from the attacker's body as every muscle began to fire off at once. For the shooter, it felt like he had just ran around an entire planet. His body refused to obey his commands as he toppled over.

"It's over," Umar said, still hoping that the man would surrender so he would not have to drag an unconscious man out of there. Nova approached from behind the Commander, peering down at the man, who looked right back at her.

"I know," he said. His cheeks were stiff but he still managed to make a weak grin as he finally gave in and collapsed onto the ground. He could barely move, but he had managed to angle his fall so that his finger would slide against the back of the ring as he hit the floor. It started off as a gentle whine but it soon grew to a loud ring. Umar and Nova widened their eyes in horror as Nova yelled, "GET BACK!" The two turned and ran, diving to the ground as the air around them felt like it was ripped open by the explosion, the shooter vaporizing into ash and charcoal from the heat as his blackened remains were scattered across the ground.

Terra put her hand to her ear, waiting for the ringing to subside before asking Umar, "What're you doing here?" He lent her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Ma'am, when a man hears 'pew, pew, pew' walking down the hall, he knows something's wrong. Are you hurt?" Nova didn't answer. At the mention of being hurt, she remembered the other attacker still lying wounded in her woodshop. He was still there, clutching his bleeding wound, the red puddle slowly expanding across the floor. Seeing Nova and Umar rushing in, he reached to activate his ring's self-destruct.

"Not so fast," Nova said, stepping on the hand that was reaching for it. "We have questions for you."

-.-

No matter how advanced a society becomes, they still needed ways to deal with crime. As technology grew more and more advanced, so did the crime…and the ways to fight it. Nova could only imagine all the rules the Nox would enforce when it came to how to deal with criminals due to their pacifistic beliefs. Still, she could not wonder if crime was at an all-time low by this point. The area of central city they called the 'barracks' was most likely used by law enforcement back during the city's glory days. Now, the military personnel usually receive their orders and assignments through the barracks. Still, the holding cells and interrogation rooms were immensely useful.

"Who is he?" Corin asked, staring at the hologram of the prisoner in the dull tan interrogation room. On Earth, there would be a pane of glass dividing the interrogation room from the observation room. While technically it was glass, in the eyes of the interrogated, it was merely part of the wall. Corin looked from the glass to the hologram being recorded.

"Devon Shire," Nova answered, rubbing her bruised knuckles. "He works in the astrophysics department under Major Hailey."

"All of a sudden, this place seems a little less safe." Nova couldn't blame Corin for feeling this way. Nova has been thinking about asking other members of the expedition for help but hesitated because she no longer knew who she could trust.

Before their conversation could continue, Martin opened the door and entered.

"Well, it's confirmed," he said, holding up the ring that Shire had been wearing earlier. "It's a za'tarc ring."

"I remember reading the mission reports about them," Corin immediately chirped, almost eager to show off his knowledge of SGC missions. "Za'tarcs were brainwashed Goa'uld agents that were given these rings to execute assassination missions."

"The question is: why'd this bloke just try to kill the Major," Martin remarked, glaring at the prisoner.

"It's the files I told you about," Nova immediately answered. She quickly explained what Mercer had told her about the Council and their history, their motivations and intentions. "The files Mercer handed me had information about the Council."

"Obviously there's something in there that they don't want you to find out," Martin remarked.

"I think I know what it is. When the SGC realized the Council was targeting SG personnel, they needed a way to infiltrate the group and predict future attacks. They sought the Tok'ra for technology that could help them. The infiltrator was implanted with a Tok'ra symbiote so he knew how to use all the equipment."

"Let me guess, Smith was the host," Corin chirped, to which Nova simply nodded.

"His participation in the Millennium Expedition was simply part of his undercover work. It was purely observe and report. He must've gotten too close and was eliminated for it. One thing that was suspicious was that Smith's name seemed to be the only one that wasn't expunged. I mean, the names of the other people involved were all blotted out except Smith's. It was almost as if-"

"As if Mercer wanted us to know Smith was involved," Martin finished. "Hey, if Smith really had infiltrated the Council, you think there's something in his room we missed?"

"Yeah, we should also figure out how to interrogate this guy," Corin added. The moment Corin mentioned this, Nova and Martin had to hold back stifled laughs.

"You haven't been in the conference room," Martin chuckled. "Mercer's called a meeting of the department heads to discuss the situation. They are raising hell over how to interrogate the guy."

"Different countries have different standards of interrogation and the department heads come from over a dozen different ones," Nova explained. "Some say extract the truth out of this guy through whatever means necessary. Others are worried about the moral implications. I barely got out of there alive." Corin knew Terra was joking when she said the last bit but he understood how chaotic it must be.

"The only way to make everyone happy is to get this guy to spill his guts without torture," Martin said. He was naturally against enhanced interrogation methods but he was still trying to figure out a way to make him talk. At this mention, Nova got an idea. It seemed farfetched but it might work depending on Shire's personality.

"Hey, do you know if Chen finished is General Tso's?" Nova asked. A grin spread across her face as she formed a plan. "Corin, tell Chen and Hailey to double check Smith's room." Corin nodded and reached for his radio. "Not over the radio," Nova interrupted. "That's how they knew I had the files on the Council; they're monitoring our radio transmissions. Tell him in person. Martin, come with me."

-.-

Devon Shire glared at the wall, his right arm in a sling in front of his chest. The energy blast had gone straight through, cauterizing all the surrounding muscles, including the ones needed to use his right arm. He didn't know where the cameras were but he knew he was pissed. He had worked so hard to be able to infiltrate the Millennium Expedition and it looked like it was all for naught. It didn't matter. He was loyal to his cause and he wasn't going to say anything to these self-righteous brutes no matter what they do.

There was a hiss as the interrogation room door opened. Nova looked around, taking in the room. She could see why some found it so disconcerting. Aside from the table and three chairs, the room was completely plain. She and Martin both walked in and sat across the table from Shire as the door slid close behind them, turning back into the wall. If it wasn't for the fact she already knew where the door was, it would look like it was a room with no way in and no way out.

"Here," Nova said cheerfully, sliding over a container of General Tso's chicken. She had to break into Chen's room and microwave it but it should be fine. "It's just chicken." Martin was about to disperse the forks but a quick glance from Nova made him stop. She, instead, dispensed a pair of chopsticks to everyone before picking up a piece of chicken and eating it. She eyed the pair in front of the prisoner carefully. He may be willing to take his own life so he wouldn't be interrogated, but with his weapon out of reach, any attempt he makes would be easily stopped and would simply have made it even harder for him to try again. She knew that he knew it would be better to play along until he found the right moment to end it in a way that no one could stop him. But for now, he had to play their game.

"General O'Neill actually taught this to Doctor Chen who then taught it to me; he called it the 'tuna-torture'," Nova explained. "But, we don't have any tuna on hand so we're going to have to make due with chicken." She eyed Martin, who was clearly struggling to use the pair of eating utensils. He finally set it down, conceding defeat, and picked up the fork.

"You should've just let me die," Shire sneered. "I have nothing to say to you people."

"Why all this talk about death?" Martin remarked, his mouth full of chicken. "Just eat."

"Doesn't matter what country you come from. You're all just a bunch of mercenaries." Shire just sneered at them before hesitantly picking up the chopsticks. He did pause to consider using them against himself, but he knew the woman was careful and would immediately stop him. He proceeded to use the pair of sticks to eat. Nova carefully watched his every move out of the corner of her eye. She could tell that while he could use chopsticks but wasn't comfortable with them and was even less experienced with using them with his left hand. This was good. She monitored every tiny detail of his body, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, where his eyes looked as he moved, the expression on his face, the movement of his mouth.

"I'm just going to ask you a few questions," Nova said, casually leaning back in her chair.

"Don't be too busy eating your chicken; you have kids to kill and naquadah mines to conquer," Shire spat venomously. "Or is it quarium in this galaxy? Doesn't matter; I'm not telling you anything." Nova had to hold back her smile. His callousness towards them was exactly what she was counting on.

"If you don't want to talk fine," she said with a shrug. "That's not going to stop me from asking questions." Shire glared at her in agitation; she could see the hatred burning through his eyes. He was determined not to talk no matter how much they screamed or tortured him. Martin glanced at the Major, still wondering what she had up her sleeve. It was time for her to work her magic.

"Let's start with a few simple questions. Is your name Devon Shire?" Nova watched his eyes twitch, almost confused by the nature of the first question but his mouth continued chewing at a constant rate. She had hit him with an obvious question to which the answer was yes. It was time for an equally obvious question which the answer was no. "Have you dyed your hair blue recently?" The twitch in his eyes was more obvious now as he was beyond puzzled by the nature of these questions. Martin was also confused by what Nova was doing, but he had to trust that his commanding officer knew what she was doing. It was time for a question she already knew the answer to but Shire didn't know she knew. She waited for him to take another bite of chicken before asking, "Are you a member of the Stargate Council?" Nova watched Shire's mouth carefully as his jaw rhythmically chewed the chicken in it. Then, when his teeth should've clamped together again, his jaw froze for a split second before going back to chewing.

"Was that a pause?" Nova asked cheerfully.

"That was a pause," Martin confirmed. He truthfully didn't know what she was talking about but it was clear she knew what she was doing.

"He paused."

"I didn't pause," Shire glowered. "I'm just eating!"

"You're also getting as bent as a scrub tick," Martin pointed out. He now realized what Nova was doing. She was probing Shire's reactions, examining his subtle and almost unnoticeable reactions to her questions. He had subconsciously reacted to Nova's question despite his attempts not to and was getting angry that he had been caught.

"Let's just move on," Nova insisted with a gentle smile. She actually wasn't sure about Shire's pause. She had to make fun of him about it. If his hesitation was a reaction to her question then he would grow agitated because he thought he had accidentally revealed something. If it wasn't true, then he wouldn't care because it would look like they were being misled. "Is your right arm broken?" Nova continued as Shire continued to angrily eat. No reaction to the misleading statement whose answer is yes. "Are there more than five fingers on your right hand?" No reaction to the misleading statement whose answer is no. It was time for the question. "Does the Council have a plan in motion right now?" Nova stared at him but the man had no reaction. She could not help but feel that there was some plan in motion but he did not give any hint to it. His stone-cold face would mean no, but she had to double check this response by saying, "I'll take that as a yes."

Shire had been trying to eat with chopsticks in his left hand this whole time, not an easy feat even for people who are experienced with these eating utensils unless they were left handed. Martin understood why she had insisted on the prisoner to eat with those when his fingers slipped, sending one of the sticks flying across the room and gently clattering on the floor. Of all the times Devon could've slipped up, he did it when Nova pretended she had gotten information from him. Devon knew that they were trying to read his expression for any hints of the answer, so his only duty was to make that impossible. When Nova said that she would 'take that as a yes', she acted as if he had just failed, further angering him.

"Oh, that's definitely a yes," Martin agreed.

"Why are you people make such a big deal?" Shire exclaimed defensively. "I'm not left handed. You try using chopsticks with your left hand!"

"You tried to kill me and destroy the files I had," Nova said, ignoring his defensive remarks. Shire lowered his head over the container of chicken and continued eating, hoping that this position would make it even harder to notice any change in his expression. "You wouldn't expose yourself unless there was something important in there. Are you afraid that it holds details about your organization?" The man continued eating with his face down. "Or do you think the file might contain details about your master plan?" Nova couldn't see his face but she did see his eyes quickly flick up at her for a brief, probably a fraction of a, second. This wasn't a reaction to her statement. This was a glance to see if she saw any reaction. Still, she wanted to double check.

"Once we're done, I'm going to finish going over the files," she said loudly and clearly to Martin. "Their big master plan is in there somewhere." That was the last straw for Shire. He spit out the chicken in his mouth before using his left hand to violently shove the container off the desk, the food and sauce spilling all over the floor.

"Enough with the chicken!" he roared. He sat back against the chair, glaring at the wall.

Nova paused to think about the next question. Now they knew the Council had a plan in motion but they still needed to figure out what it was. Shire was getting angry and each step closer they took made him even more uncomfortable. If she just started asking random questions, she would lose all the momentum she had. She only had one more question to ask.

"Did the Council kill Smith because he got too close?"

Nova watched Shire carefully. His eye lids twitched, the same way they did when she started interrogating him, when he was confused. But what was there to be confused by? Shire knew Smith was dead.

"You guys didn't kill him," Nova breathed, putting the pieces together. "You didn't even know he had infiltrated the Council." Shire's eyes immediately locked onto Nova as he learned that they had a mole in their ranks. For Major Nova, this was confirmation that he was oblivious but it also meant that the Council was not responsible for killing Smith as General Mercer had led her to believe. She guessed she should've realized it when they attacked her with za'tarc rings. If they killed Smith, they would've used the same weapon. Instead, Smith was apparently hacked apart by a sword or some other bladed weapon. But if it wasn't the Council that killed Smith, then his killer was still out there.

-.-

Nova was certainly impressed with Martin's self-control in the interrogation room. The moment they stepped out, his agitation for immediately apparent on his face.

"Take it easy," Nova said gently as Martin glared at the door. He was usually the one talking about whether or not something was moral and now it looked like he wanted to march back into the room and deck the prisoner.

"May his ears turn to arseholes so he may take a dump on his shoulders!" Martin cursed.

"Charles," Nova said. Martin looked at the Major in surprise. They were usually so formal to each other, this was the first time he ever heard her use his first name. "You need to try to see it from his perspective."

"His perspective?" Martin repeated, stunned that Nova had suggested such a thing. His frustrations suddenly subsided when he realized how empathetic she felt. She almost pitied him. "Major, how can we not judge when blokes like them do nothing but judge. My parents were both doctors and that gave my family a fair amount of money. Blokes think that just because I've had an easier life than most I'm a spoiled brat. Yeah, I had it easy, but that's why I'm here; I want to try to give other people the chance to live lives like mine. I was always taught we are given privileges so helping other people is easier. My sister became a lawyer because she wanted to give innocent people the chance to defend themselves. I joined the Royal Australian Air Force so I can protect the land I love."

"Charles, the more we view any battle as us versus them, the more we hate them. Look at him; he's already filled with hate. Understand the people we fight so we can understand why we're fighting and we can avoid becoming them. There's other stuff we have to worry about anyways."

"Like what?" Martin scoffed. The idea of them being infiltrated seemed more important at the moment.

"The Tok'ra agreed to help if they were allowed to implant several members of the Millennium Expedition."

Martin tensed when he heard this. Normally, he wouldn't be very concerned if the Tok'ra decided to come along. But, why did they keep it a secret? With several hundred people in the colony, it would be next to impossible to know who the Tok'ra were.

"Did the file-?"

"Expunged," Nova interrupted. She knew Martin was going to ask whether or not the file contained the names of those who were Tok'ra. "But, it says two branches of the Tok'ra were brought along. One was the scientific branch, the other was the _orak vu'lom._ That's Goa'uld for Unholy Shadow; that's the assassination branch of the Tok'ra. They were rarely used out of fear that every killed System Lord was simply replaced by another, but when they were used, success was guaranteed."

"We've been in this galaxy for over two months and no one's been killed yet," Martin remarked, trying to understand why the Tok'ra would send assassins with the expedition. He could understand why they would send a science team, but why assassins?

"They must be here to keep an eye on someone so they can get rid of him at a moment's notice," Nova concluded. "But, that still leaves the question of who?"

-.-

Chen flipped through every single book on Smith's bookshelf while Corin went through the drawers. The floor was mess before but the two of them had completely covered it in random items.

"What're we looking for anyways?" Chen asked in agitation as he closed another book and put it back on the shelf.

"Something out of place," was all Corin could answer. He knew Terra wanted them to find something but he didn't have any more of an idea than Chen. Corin tossed the empty drawer in the bed and poked his head inside the space where it once was.

"You know, if you're wondering whether or not you should ask a question, the answer is usually yes," Chen announced loudly.

"It's not a question for you," Corin said, dumping another drawer onto the bed. "I'm just wondering about stuff." Corin simply hung his head. A lot of the rhetoric Shire was talking about was bringing back memories from when he was still a Ror'char citizen. The basic Ror'char belief was that if people were allowed to form different views on the same issue, there would inevitably be conflict. Corin thought that the Millennium Expedition, a colony out in the middle of nowhere, could prove them wrong.

"Hey, Corin!" Chen called. Corin rushed in, curious why Steven was shouting. Chen had just opened what he thought was a plain old dictionary, but a section of several pages had been cut out, creating a space that held a long white crystal. "Either he went to Jared or this doesn't belong here."

Corin examined the crystal for a moment. The truth may be within their grasp, just waiting to be read.


	3. Chapter 3

The day cycle was coming to a close, the light generated by the clouds around the city dimming. Even with the danger present, people were going to sleep. Only those who were on duty during the night were still active. As the leader of the colony, General Mercer no longer had many chances to sleep. He was now in the situation room, staring at the galaxy map as he took the time to think about all that has happened. The computer terminals that lined the circular chamber had been shut down, their users gone to bed. The only light came from the DHD-like pedestal and the massive hologram above it. It was a display of Caldwell 70, the galaxy they were in now. With a tap of a button, the hologram shifted, swiftly zooming in on a region of space. Another tap and the hologram zoomed in even closer. Another tap and another zoom. Finally, it was close enough to show what was occupying that section of space: the capital city of Millennium. With the press of a few buttons, the hologram changed. It looked as if it was a camera moving through space at impossible speeds before coming to a halt at another planet.

Mercer's eyes were initially locked on the galaxy map, but flicked to the corner when he sensed someone approaching. As if to confirm the General's suspicions, a pair of eyes flashed ominously in the dark.

"I should kill you," a voice said menacingly as a hooded figure stepped into the light, the glow of the hologram only revealing the man's thin-lipped mouth. The rest of his face was obscured by the shadow cast over it by his hood. But, his voice was different. It was deep, dark, hollow, it almost seemed to echo through the room though there was no echo at all.

"As I'm sure you are aware, he was the one who attacked me," Mercer said calmly. "You never did tell him of my true nature. Or is it because of that nature that you would've preferred if I…simply let myself be killed?"

"It is not just the death of Smith and Zanuf," the figure growled, pacing through the room in the shadows, his black cloak blending in perfectly with the dark. If it wasn't for his face partially shown in the light, it would have appeared as if there was nothing there at all. "Your actions caused them to investigate his symbiote, nearly exposing us. Then, you hand her the files that have led them right to the memory crystal that contains sensitive data."

Mercer seemed to smile at this accusation, as if he was glad that the menacing black figure was keeping track of the situation.

"Then perhaps you should know that I removed all sensitive information in the documents I gave Major Nova," he said slyly. Even the black figure was stunned by how threatening this old man could be. "I have pointed their investigation into the deaths of Smith and Zanuf in the direction of the Council. The files I gave Major Nova did exactly as I hoped: forced the Council's hand and have one of their own be captured and lead them straight to the Tok'ra data crystal Zanuf had hidden. I suspect _orac vu'lom_ is now preparing to destroy the data crystal before any important information is uncovered. Once destroyed, the Tau'ri will continue their efforts to eliminate the Council and all information leading back to us will be gone."

"You play a dangerous game," the figure warned. "The Tau'ri woman, Terra Nova, likely suspects you."

"I'm counting on it. I originally planned on revealing it to the expedition's flagship team, the Dusk Riders. However, timing of things made them unavailable, so Wolf Pack was chosen. In the future, we will need them to know if we want them to carry out our plans for us."

The dark figure wanted to criticize, but everything had gone to the General's plan perfectly. Every event had the effect Mercer wanted.

"Remember," the reaper-like figure hissed. "We are watching."

"I am also counting on that," Mercer chuckled in amusement as he watched the hooded face vanish into the dark. "Though, I strongly urge to do your research on Am-heh before you threaten us again."

-.-

With the city so silent, there were plenty of empty rooms. But, if anyone took the time, they could peer through the window into the dark room on the other side. In one particular empty room, a man swiftly walked in carrying a long case. This room was completely empty when the expedition moved in so they hadn't the slightest idea what it was used for during the time of the Alliance. Now, it was the perfect perch. The man slowly opened the case. The only light came from the light of the other buildings coming through the window. Though dim, it was enough to reveal the slim staff weapon concealed within. There was no doubt that this was a ma'tok staff often seen carried by jaffa back in the Milky Way, but this one was different. It was shorter and the paddles on either end were much narrower, looking more like sharpened spear heads. The man gently lifted the staff weapon out of the foam it was gently cradled in before proceeding to take out several other pieces of equipment. He unfolded the shoulder mount and a handle near the front of the weapon before taking the scope out of the case and attaching it. There was a crackle of energy as the spear head seemed to expand, the individual pieces of the tip separating, revealing the barrel hidden within. The man finally mounted the staff on his shoulder, taking aim through the window at the building across the city.

In the window, the lights of the lab turned on, revealing Major Terra Nova, who was examining the room in front of her. She already had the crystal inserted into a plug designed to interface it with the computer. Commander Christopher Umar, Major Jennifer Hailey, Flight Lieutenant Charles Martin, were all at the ready.

"Gentlemen," Nova said, looking at the group. "I won't force you to help me with what I'm going to do next. When I tried to read the files General Mercer gave me, I was nearly killed for it. I'm going to go through the data crystal and the files and try to dig out the truth."

"Ma'am," Umar spoke up. "I don't know if you noticed but we volunteered for this job. We'll do it." Martin and Hailey seemed to agree, stepping forwards eagerly. "We've had enough and are ready to get to the bottom of this." Nova smiled when she heard this statement, glad she was not alone.

-.-

Kara Osborn looked at her data panel, making sure everything was right. It seemed almost too good to be true. She stared at the pod in front of her, a control panel on one side and an array of monitors on the other. Casanova, Porter, and Greer stood behind her, eager to hear the answer.

"This is it," she finally said with a smile. "We found it." The three men behind her all exchanged excited glances and smiles. After walking all the way around that section of the city, they found what they were looking for, the DNA resequencer. She walked up to the pod, placing her hand on the smooth edge. She remembered reading about pods like these back the Milky Way, used by the Ancients or Goa'uld scientists to manipulate DNA. She could list all sorts of genetic disorders in her head, realizing that this pod could help solve them. The Alliance likely already did solve them. It was saddeningly ironic that they probably cured every genetic disorder that existed on Earth merely to develop a new one that ended costing the Asgard their entire race. Usually when the SGC went out in search of alien technology, they wanted to find the most advanced one. They always seem to forget that even commonplace items like this machine, something the Asgard likely used to cure a number of their genetic ailments, could hold countless secrets.

"We should radio General Mercer," Kara said, setting aside her data pad so she could try to access the computer connected to the pod. "I don't recommend we use this until we understand this, but I think we just found the ability to cure every genetic disorder and disease known." Kara glanced back behind her, wondering why her small group was as excited as she was. Her smile faded when she saw the hulking giant, Casanova, and Porter walk up on either side of her. She was even more stunned when Casanova set down his backpack and unveiled a SPAS-12 shotgun. Porter pulled out an MP-5 submachine gun out of his bag with a small smile.

Osborn was stunned and confused by what she saw as her teammates drew out their weapons. She didn't trust them to the same degree as a friend, but she didn't expect them to be hiding guns and pulling them out at random times either. This was supposed to be a scientific mission in familiar and safe ground. She was so stunned by the sudden draw of firearms that all she could stutter was, "What are you guys doing?"

Greer folded his arms and pulled out the memory crystal from his pocket as he chuckled, "The right thing." Osborn could only gape in confusion as Greer handed the crystal to Porter who began to see if he could see how to hook it up to the machine. Casanova chose to stand guard at the door they entered through, his shotgun at the ready. Greer paced back and forth, feeling the victory.

"I don't know if you noticed, but we Earthlings aren't exactly the friendliest group of people," Greer preached. "Stargate Command is responsible for hundreds of crimes in the Milky Way and Pegasus; it's time they pay for it. And soon, justice will be served for all of them."

"I don't understand what you're getting at," Kara said, subtly backing up toward the door.

"First we topple a stable galactic government in Milky Way! Then, we try to commit genocide in Pegasus! Don't you see? Stargate Command isn't trying to explore the galaxy! They're conquering it for Earth. The Goa'uld, the Wraith, they only attacked after we provoked them! And we just saw the same thing done with the Ror'char."

By this point, Osborn was done listening. She continued backing up as Greer continued to rant and preach about how evil the SGC was and how they would end Earth's campaign. She couldn't tell how close she was to the door, but she finally felt its frame against her back.

"We're the good guys, Kara," Greer finally finished. "C'mon; we can stop the SGC. Help us, Kara."

Osborn feigned a weak smile, gripping the door frame and shouting, "Help yourself!" before turning and taking off down the hall. Casanova reached to grab her. She was a little startled by his sudden lunge but she learned a thing or two from having an ex-boyfriend who was borderline obsessed with fighting. The first blow was her foot to his groin, sending the hulking man leaning forward in shock. The second blow was dropping her elbow straight down on the back of his head; she didn't need to go to medical school to know how bad that would hurt. The finishing move was bringing her knee up to the big man's nose. She cringed at the crunch it made as Casanova finally toppled to the ground. Osborn had never had to defend herself before and she was stunned by how easily that worked; it almost seemed like magic, even more so since Casanova was larger than the average person and Kara was smaller. Still, she didn't have time to admire her work; she turned and ran down the hall. Porter reacted immediately, taking aim with his submachine gun.

"No!" Greer yelled, shoving the gun aside. "You idiot, she's a department head! We need her." Greer looked up but Doctor Osborn was gone. "You dumbass, find her!" Porter immediately obeyed, running off down the hall as Devin Casanova tried picking himself up.

"You too, beefcake!" Greer snapped at Casanova before turning back to the machine. He gripped the crystal in his hand even tighter. He was going to have to figure the machine out by himself. Victory was so close he could taste it. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a small pearl, the size of his palm. There was a whoosh as the image of a man appeared across its round surface.

"We found it," Greer said with a smile. "Lock on my locator and tell everyone to pack up and head there." Greer could feel the adrenaline from his excitement shoot through his veins as he chuckled, "It's time."

-.-

Even digging through the files, Nova could not help but think about the Ror'char, the first civilization they encountered in this galaxy. The Ror'char always preached that freedom of any form was dangerous, that a strong leadership must control every person to prevent chaos. She always shrugged this off, believing that this rag-tag bunch of people could prove them wrong. Suddenly, it seemed like they were going to prove them right.

_"So long as people are given the ability to choose, they will choose violence."_

This was one of the last statements she was told by the Ror'char, and people were doing nothing to prove it wrong. She could only imagine Overlord Krell laughing and clapping in amusement.

"Hey," Hailey suddenly called out. Nova jumped in surprise as she was thrown back into reality. She had been so entwined in her own thoughts that she nearly forgot what they were here for in the first place. Everyone turned to see what had her so excited. "Listen to this: apparently the SG Council was planning attacks on both the SGC and Atlantis." This caught the attention of everyone in the room. "The Council was planning to takeover one or both installations. But these plans were all apparently cancelled."

"If they did succeed, it probably wouldn't have made a difference for them anyways," Nova remarked. "The SGC is a secure military bunker, hard to takeover and the Air Force would focus on retaking it if it was. And if they took Atlantis, the SGC would still focus on retaking the city."

"Probably why those buggers canceled their attacks," Martin pointed out. "There wasn't any point to doing it."

"Which is why I think this is interesting," Hailey said. "They couldn't attack the SGC nor Atlantis because both locations would be quickly retaken. Millennium, on the other hand, still is out of contact with Earth. It's the ideal takeover scenario they were looking for."

"A little too ideal," Umar commented suspiciously. "Think about it. The Council wants to topple the SGC. They can now take over an expedition in a galaxy twice as far from the Milky Way as Pegasus where they can access technology of not only the Ancients but all four races of the Alliance of Four Great Races."

"I don't see why that's weird."

"Of all the places that could be chosen for an expedition, we chose a galaxy completely out of reach of the Milky Way, that there was little chance of contact for a very long time."

Nova understood what Umar was insinuating. In order for the Council to successfully seize control of an SGC operation, they needed a place unreachable by the SGC and contact could only be reestablished by the expedition, not the SGC. The Millennium fit the profile perfectly: twice the distance from the Milky Way as Pegasus and with access to technology from all four races of the Alliance, the Council could take the city and, once they contact Earth, could try to convince the IOA to give them control of Atlantis and the SGC. Even if the answer is no, they could still run own operations in a separate galaxy with impunity.

"Commander, in order for what you're suggesting to be true, the Council will need to have access to the IOA," Nova reminded him. "That would mean this whole expedition was their plan from the start."

"If they had already gotten into the IOA, why not just order the SGC to surrender control?" Martin asked.

"Difference in man power," Umar explained. "They only need a few members to convince the others to approve of this expedition. They would need the bulk of the committee to approve the transfer of power. This expedition was to get us in position for them to take over."

"The Council doesn't view the stargate as bad," Nova clarify. "They view the SGC as bad. Unless the SGC surrenders control, they can't stop its operation. All they can do it try to manipulate it into doing something that'll convince the IOA to let them have control of it. Did the files say anything about how they were going launch the attack?"

"No, but it does have list of the Tok'ra operatives sent along with the expedition," Hailey said. "One of them might have-"

Before she could continue talking, their conversation as sudden as the shattering of the window as the crystal hooked up to the interface exploded in an orange ball of fire, blackened pieces flying across the room. Everyone dove to the ground. An orange, barely visible to the naked eye, struck the computer next, entering one end and flying out the other with a mass of melted plastic and metal.

"Sniper?" Martin breathed in agitation. He glanced at the computer, realizing that data had been destroyed. Umar, crawling on his hands and knees, reached up and hit the lights, the room falling into darkness. He didn't know what equipment the sniper had but it was a lot harder to snipe a target in the dark with a regular scope. "Could be the Council."

"Or the Tok'ra," Hailey suggested, remembering they nearly saw the names of more Tok'ra agents in Millennium.

"Damn," Nova cursed angrily. "We lost the data."

-.-

Kara Osborn has never been in this section of the city before so she didn't recognize the maze of halls. All she knew was that two armed men were chasing her. She didn't know how far behind they were or how quickly they were catching up. She didn't even know if they were going to be around the next corner. Her legs were already starting to burn from all the running yet she didn't dare stop. She didn't have a choice as she rounded the corner and found herself staring at a wall of gun barrels.

Two line of men had intercepted her, all of them aiming M27 machine guns or UMP submachine guns at her. Behind them, she could see even more men, carrying crates of equipment.

She couldn't tell who the people in front of her were; they all concealed their appearance in a number of ways. The most common appeared to be a variety gray motorcycle helmets, both full faced and motocross, with tinted visors. Others wore gas masks, leaving only their eyes and hair visible. Some of the people wearing gas masks had even pulled hoods over their heads or wore dark gray helmets, making it even harder to find out who they were. A few of them used very simple techniques to disguise themselves, covering their head with a hood and their face with a bandana that only left their eyes visible. Kara saw that at least two of them only wore balaclavas to hide their identities.

Osborn slowly raised her hands in the air, realizing she had no place to go.

"Move it," one of them said, nudging her with a M27. Kara tried to figure out who the woman pointing the weapon at her was. The gunwoman only wore a gas mask, letting her oak brown hair hang in the back. It was almost disturbing that yesterday these people were walking and interacting with the other members of the expedition. Now, they were pointing guns at her and all Osborn could do was comply as she was led through the halls.

The network of corridors seemed so much less confusing with someone guiding the way. Before she knew it, Kara was back in the hospital in the exact same room she had run from. Casanova and Porter were already there, but standing beside Greer, who was now on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. Kara looked around and saw that a panel beside the machine had been pulled out, a tangled mess of wires leading up to an interface with the data crystal Greer had earlier plugged into it. There was obviously some sort of overload; the smell of burned metal filled the air as smoke rose from the blackened Alliance computer attached to it.

"What have you done?" Kara breathed as she realized what happened. Greer had just used the machine to manipulate his own DNA. But, Osborn knew changing and resequencing DNA was no easy feat. She's heard horror stories of SG personnel encountering individuals who've used the machine with no clue how to operate it properly.

"Someone has to stand up to the SGC," Greer coughed, wiping away the blood from his lip. "Might as well be us."

"You don't even know how to use that thing!" Osborn exclaimed. A doctor knew which medicines and treatment to take to cure certain ailments but what Greer was doing was the equivalent of chugging down a bunch of pills and expecting something good to happen. Greer smiled as if he knew something she didn't.

"I don't, but Nirrti did," he said. "She was using it to save the people of P3X-367 from a disease, even giving them superpowers in the process, then the SGC just marches in, kills her, and feeds the natives propaganda to justify themselves. The natives destroyed the machine but they didn't have a problem with the SGC taking the debris where this data crystal was found. Apparently, the crystal was like a flash drive and it had the blue prints to the genetic modifications Nirrti did. Most of the data was corrupt, but we were able to retrieve one part of it. We just couldn't use it because we needed a DNA resequencer."

"And you used it on yourself? Are you mad? She's a Goa'uld!"

Greer stepped forward, compassionately putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Kara, the SGC has murdered hundreds of people and no one can stop them until now," Greer said. "If we manage to contact Earth, we need the IOA to see that we're right. We can show them how evil the SGC is and how ignorant their supporters are."

Osborn shook her head in disbelief before slapping Greer's hand off her shoulder with a stiff 'no'. She still had to pause to make sure she was hearing him right, that this whole thing was not a delusion. If anything, Greer and his men seemed to be the ones who were delusional. Greer looked at her in disappointment.

"I was really hoping you were smarter than this," he said. "I guess ignorance can affect anyone."

At that moment, Greer fell to his knees, choking up blood. Osborn might've thought of Greer as a psychotic but she was still a doctor and she instinctively knelt down to see what was wrong. Even Casanova, Porter, and the woman stooped down.

"Let's show Kara what the SGC has locked up for all these years," Greer coughed, wiping away the blood on his mouth. Casanova complied by standing up and cocking his shotgun. Greer grinned as the barrel of the shotgun was placed against his head. A single deafening bang echoed the hall, as if the air had been ripped open. Kara was so close that she could feel the pressure wave ripple across her skin as both the shotgun shell and the gunpowder explosion that fired it blasted into Greer's skull, taking the top of it clean off, leaving only the lower jaw behind. The corpse toppled to the ground. Kara has seen some ugly things working as a doctor but she was glad that Greer's gaping wound was facing away from her.

"Why'd you do that to him?!" she gasped. As if to answer her question, Greer's body gave a single violent twitch. Osborn didn't really think much of this, it was likely the last electrochemical signals in the body fading away. But, the body gave another twitch, as if it was trying to come back to life. Osborn got up and walked over to what would be Greer's head, stunned to find it moving. The top of what was the stump was shifting, changing, and expanding. Bone and muscle quickly took shape with skin not far behind, covering up the exposed tissue. Osborn could not take her eyes away as Greer's own eyes grew into place just as the skin covered the top of his head. He opened his mouth and let some blood left from his earlier injury spill to the floor.

"What a rush," Greer chuckled, feeling his head as if he was also surprised that it could grow back. Osborn could list over a dozen animals on Earth that could regrow entire lost limbs or even a head and at least one flatworm that can retain its memory even after losing its head and brain, but there was nothing she knew that could regrow that quickly.

"You don't get it, do you?" she scoffed. "DNA manipulation isn't like playing with lego's; you can't take and put back whatever you want. You think you can just change you DNA without any side effects?"

"I'm sure there will be," Greer said simply. "I probably won't live to see the end of the week. But, if it means beginning the end of the SGC, it'll be worth it."

-.-

By morning, the city was abuzz. Several personnel were not reporting to their stations and others were reported missing; they had all vanished in the middle of the night. Mercer was walking across the city with Donavan right behind him, explaining the situation, reading the list right off the data pad in his hand.

"Have the empty positions substituted immediately and all gate travel is suspended indefinitely," Mercer ordered. "How many off-world teams are there right now?"

"Just two," Donavan answered, jogging to keep up with Mercer's fast stride. "The Spartans and the Mud Skippers."

"Order them both back until we know what's happening," Mercer said as he ascended the steps to the control room. Scanning the area, he knew that at least one person had not reported to their station. So many people disappearing at once over night; Mercer could feel something bad was happening.

-.-

Chen's personal lab was unusually quiet, especially since he was sleeping in it. He was leaning back in his chair, his head tilted to the side. Nova watched from behind him. The previous day had been such a blur that she envied him and his sleep. She wanted to just let him nap but she needed his computer skills. She watched Chen's slideshow screensaver play. Computers issued by the SGC had very simple screensavers, usually just the symbol of the project rotating on the screen. The SGC has a rotating SGC symbol while Atlantis had a rotating Pegasus symbol. However, this was Chen's personal laptop and it was simply going to pictures he had saved on his computer.

Chen was usually either using the computer or had it shut off; having the screen saver on was a rarity. He had several pictures of damaged computers and circuit boards that he had worked on in the past appearing and fading from the screen. One picture that faded in showed Chen, but Nova could tell from his face that this was from a long time ago, likely from when he was in college. It showed a younger Chen sitting on a wooden bridge, staring off into the distance, wearing a simple black MIT shirt and jeans. Sitting beside him, her head on his shoulder, staring off in the same direction, was a young woman wearing a red Harvard shirt. It took Nova a moment but she suddenly realized that the woman sitting beside him was a younger Doctor Kara Osborn. This picture had been taken years ago, this showed them when they were both still teenagers. Nova smiled when she realized that this was how the two knew each other. The picture slowly faded out as the screensaver continued.

Nova eyed the laptop sitting beside Chen. The laptop had been taken apart, revealing the blackened and burned circuits and boards inside. When Steven and Hailey had tried to hack Smith's computer, a failsafe activated and nearly melted the entire thing. Even from there, she could still smell the burnt plastic. She gently picked up one of the burned circuits and slowly raised it to Chen's nose.

"Chen," she whispered. "Your computer's on fire."

Chen bolted up so suddenly Nova pulled back in shock.

"Crap!" he muttered, his hands flying across the keyboard as he brought up just about every schematic and ran every diagnostic. "Didn't properly vent its heat and forgot to turn it off last night!" It was then he froze, the annoying truth sinking in. He turned and gave Nova an agitated look as she put the burnt piece of plastic back. It wasn't just the words but the smell of burning plastic that made Chen believe what was happening.

"That is so not funny," he grumbled. Nova simply smiled in amusement. "Corin?" Chen called out, looking around. "CORIN!" There was a loud crash as the table across the room seemed to jump. Corin Nevec jumped out from behind the table, his eyes wide and his hair a wild mess. Nova was horrified by Chen's reaction to her joke but she thought Corin's appearance was scarier. Even Chen leaned back in shock.

"I feel like hell," Corin groaned.

"You certainly look the part," Chen remarked as Corin tried to straighten out his hair. "I called him over for some help."

"You were able to retrieve some data off the hard drive?" Nova asked eagerly as Corin tried to use a mirror to help straighten himself out.

"Barely. Right now I could pretend to be Colonel Carter or Major Hailey by giving you the longest possible in depth explanation of how I did it, or I can just tell you what I found."

"Just tell me," Nova said with a slight chuckle. Chen's hand flew over his keyboard and pulled up an image as Corin walked up beside Nova, who leaned forward in an attempt to see the man in the blurry image. Streaks of random colors covered a lot of the picture like heavy downpour.

"We still don't know who or what that is," Corin explained, feeling he needed to contribute something to the conversation.

"I can see why," Nova scoffed. "I can find you better pictures of bigfoot."

"Hey, the computer had its insides melted," Chen said defensively.

"Was there anything else you recovered?"

"Just his notes on the tram systems and a map," Chen answered, pulling up the latter on his screen. "It was actually the least corrupt file on his computer." The dull blue diagram only showed central city but several discolored green dots blotted the picture. Chen reached over to the burnt laptop and pulled out three small orbs. "The moment Hailey hacked the drive, these things cranked up the heat and tried to melt it."

"Bring the picture back up," Nova ordered. With a click, the distorted image was placed right beside the map. "What are those dots on the map?"

"I just thought those were because of damage to the hard drive," Chen said with a shrug. It was clear Nova disagreed when she shook her head.

"See that door in the background?" Nova asked, pointing to the rectangular silhouette. "That's that supply door for the barracks. Corin and Chen both leaned forward and squinted at the screen. They were so focused on identifying the man and what was close to him they didn't even notice that door in the background. "The barracks' been marked with a green dot. Are there any other pictures?"

"Aside from this one and his research notes, five," Chen answered, growing increasingly concerned.

"And there are five other dots," Corin instinctively said, realizing the connection. "Smith caught the Council doing something so he took pictures and marked the locations."

"Ok," Nova said, heading for the door. "Corin, you and I are going to check out the barracks. Chen, tell Martin to update General Mercer then keep working at the computer."

Nova rushed out the door so fast that Corin barely had enough time to react to her statement.

-.-

Kara watched as Greer paced back and forth eagerly. She watched as the people she saw earlier walk past with crates of equipment, some from Earth while others were clearly Goa'uld. Porter and Casanova were still there, trying to fix the damage DNA resequencer. The woman still had a gun to her head.

"Tell me something," Osborn finally spoke up. "If you have such a problem with the SGC, why not take up with the IOA." The woman behind her scoffed with amused disappointment.

"Typical SGC zombie," the gunwoman chuckled through her gasmask. "The IOA is part of the problem."

"The IOA are a bunch of politicians," Greer snorted with a hint of disgust. "SGC just needs to say 'we're doing it to protect Earth' and they IOA looks the other way. But that's going to change once we contact Earth; we're going to show the IOA what the SGC's really been up to." Greer looked at his watch and smiled. "It's almost time too." He looked back at the room of men as he made his announcement.

"Today, we win a great victory!" he boomed, more men walking into the room to hear what he has to say. Others were clicking on radios so that those who weren't there could also hear it. "For years the SGC operated their business of murder unhindered! Today, we will work to end that business! It's time to give these animals what they deserve, and soon justice will be served to all of them!"

At that moment, the entire room broke into thunderous applaud and cheers. Osborn couldn't hear what each person was saying but she could pick out a few statements.

"Burn the bastards!"

"Kill the criminals!"

"Down with the SGC!"

"Fry them all alive!"

-.-

After the interrogation, Shire had been moved back to his cell, a single guard watching the prisoner. It probably wasn't necessary since there was nothing shire could to penetrate the metal bars or the forcefield between them. He looked up in surprise when Nova and Corin marched in.

"I'm not telling you brutes anything," Shire retorted upon seeing Nova. She wasn't interested in Shire this time. "She walked past the empty cells, trying to find out what was on the picture.

"Ma'am?" the guard asked curiously as Nova seemed to circle the room.

"He was standing in front of this cell," Corin said loudly, staring into an empty holding cell. The picture may have been distorted but, now that he could see the supply room door, he could picture it perfectly. "We just can't tell who he is or what he did."

"The picture only showed him walking by the jail cell," Nova said, looking around. "He might've done something." She eyed the supply closet suspiciously. It was the only place something could be done and no one would know. She quickly strolled over and whipped the door open, several stacks of crates greeting her to the tiny interior. "Help me with this," she called to Corin. Together, the two lowered the crate at the top of the nearest stack to the floor and opened it. There were nothing but shotguns nestled in foam. They quickly grabbed the next crate but it only held handcuffs and zip ties. The third crate had packages of MRE's but nothing more. It wasn't until they opened the top crate on the next stack they saw it. Nova's blood chilled and Corin's jaw dropped.

"Tell me semtex doesn't mean what I think it means," he breathed worriedly. Each crate was the size of a large traveler's luggage bag and this one was filled to the brim with black blocks, each with 'semtex' printed on it. A circuit board was linked to what looked like a receiver was attached to the lid and all three were connected by blue wires. The guard behind them backed up worriedly while Shire cheered "Justice for all!" in his cell.

"That's what all the points on the map meant," Nova gasped. "The Council's planted bombs at those locations. There's no timer so it could blow at any moment."

"If we call bomb disposal, can't they handle it?" Corin asked, trying to find a glimmer of hope. But Nova could only tell him the truth: "Only if they get here in time."

-.-

Word of the crate full of semtex traveled fast. General Mercer was the first to hear about it over the radio. Smith had caught the Council doing something and marked all the points on the map where they did it; he caught them planting crates of explosives. The entire city immediately became active as people were filed away from all the points on the map. Entire hallways became crowded and packed, their daily lives interrupted as they tried to get out of the area. Soldiers were ordered to remain at their posts and keep the evacuation as organized as possible as hundreds upon hundreds of people tried to reach the outmost edges of the central city.

-.-

Chen knew that there invaluable data in the Alliance computers. They were systematically going through it all and he could not let it just be destroyed. He went to the nearest science lab and began downloading all the data onto a memory crystal. He impatiently watched the screen as it monitored the progress of the download. His heart was beating so hard that it felt like his body was jumping with every thump. That bomb was going to go off any moment and he would get caught in the blast if he didn't leave soon. At any moment, his life would be extinguished as quickly as a candle fire being blown out. That's when it struck him. He grabbed a nearby radio in panic, cursing himself that he didn't think of this sooner.

"Kara," he said through the radio after turning it to the proper channels. "Kara, come in! Kara, wherever you are, DO NOT COME BACK TO CENTRAL CITY! WHATEVER YOU DO, STAY OUT OF CENTRAL CITY!" There was a beep as the computer finished downloading all data files relating to any scientific research. Chen growled angrily as he pulled the data crystal out of its slot and shoved it into a nearby backpack. He grabbed the pack and took off out the door.

-.-

The hallways were beginning to empty as the evacuation continued. Still, Martin insisted on staying behind to make sure everyone was gone. He ran from door to door, opening them to make sure the rooms were empty. He knew he would be caught in the explosion but he also knew any stragglers would too.

"You two!" he called out to a pair of guards doing the same thing. "GO, NOW! I'll take care of this."

-.-

The doors to General Mercer's office slid open as the old man quickly exited, a suitcase full of materials in his right hand and a thick glove on his left.

"Donavan!" he roared when he saw the technician still working. "Get out, now!"

"Almost done, sir!" Donavan called back. He was breathing so uncontrollably that he was surprised that he could even say anything. His mind was racing, knowing that he could die at any moment. He was terrified, his body flooding with adrenaline, his legs wanting to just run. The control room computers held data and specifics about the stargate that could not be replaced and he was not leaving it behind just yet. All that data would be uploaded into a data crystal that he could take with him.

-.-

"Come on," Nova said to the guard as she and Corin walked up. "We're moving the prisoner." The guard nodded and waved his hand over the cell door controls. There was a whoosh as the shields deactivated and the door slid open.

"You two go," Nova told the guard as she snatched the handcuffs from him. "I'll take care of this."

"Terra," Corin exclaimed in disbelief.

"You sure about that?" the guard asked, not liking the idea of just leaving two people behind.

"You're superior officer is ordering you to leave now!" Nova snapped angrily. The guard gave her a protesting glance but Nova answered with a demanding glare as she snapped the cuffs on Shire.

"No," the guard said. Terra looked at Corin, hoping that at least he would obey, but he simply replied, "I'm not military, you can't order me." Nova forcefully pulled Shire out of the cell. It didn't matter anyways; she was ready.

"Let's go," she said, dragging Shire toward the door. The three of them had just reached the frame when Shire threw himself at Nova tackling her to the ground. The guard and Corin both looked behind them frantically when they heard the commotion. Corin realized what was happening: Shire was trying to stop them from escaping the blast. The guard rushed over, pulling on Shire as hard as he could. He couldn't just leave them behind, but they had to get out of there before the bomb blows. He had just gotten Shire off of her when a single loud gunshot pierced the air. Nova bolted upright, a chill going down her spine as the guard fell backwards, his hands reaching for the sidearm that wasn't there anymore.

"Terra, come on!" Corin yelled urgently. Shire smiled gleefully as he put the guard's sidearm against him and began squeezing bullet after bullet into his body. Nova wanted to stay and fight Shire, but she was out of time. She turned, grabbed Corin by the hand, and bolted with him down the hall.

"Where are we going?!" Corin asked in a panic.

"There's an ark nearby," Nova explained frantically. "We're going to head to another section of the city."

"No you don't!" a voice yelled. They both glanced behind them, catching a glimpse of Shire who was sprinting after them. "WE BURN TOGETHER!" Nova knew she could take Shire in a fight but they had to get away from the bomb first. They reached the doorway that she instantly recognized as the ark and punched in their destination.

-.-

The guard was still at the prison cells, gasping for air as blood poured out of his wounds. He could feel the world around him swirling. He managed to roll onto his side, his eyes falling upon the open case. He could feel the red liquid flowing out of his body, each beat of his heart spilling more of it across the floor. He looked at the open crate. At his angle he could only see the lid and the receiver inside of it. He blinked one last time and just in time to see a word appear on the receiver. He squinted, realizing what the word was: 'justice'.

-.-

Chen was rushing as fast as he could down a stairwell to safety, briefly glancing out the window and across the city. At that moment, a blinding flash of light ripped apart the air around him, the blast wave shattering the glass, sending the shards flying at him while tossing him over the railing. The world was spiraling out of control as he plummeted toward the bottom.

-.-

Martin opened another door and checked inside for any stragglers. Just as the doors slid open, the windows and wall across the room exploded forwards, the scene in front of him turning into pure light, sending the tables and chairs lying about flying towards him as the floor beneath his feet seem to vanish, the wall behind him greeting him with a smash against his back and head.

-.-

Mercer realized what was coming and reached inside his glove, pressing the red gem atop his hidden golden gauntlet. Donavan yanked the data crystal out as the wall behind the stargate turned into a wall of fire and light, the two of them flying with several hundred pounds of debris flying with them.

-.-

Nova saw the light before she heard the deafening boom. She tackled Corin through the ark. Linking two points in space for instantaneous travel, they were instantly in another building. Shire was instantly caught in the blast, his mangled body tossed against the wall. Nova tried to shield as much of Corin as she could as the two hit the ground, the flaming wall of destruction flying through the ark for a split second before the connection was broken. But that split second was all it took. The world around her began to spin, reality fading to black


End file.
